Were you watching E3 2017 waiting for a reveal of the next Halo game? If you missed the news that Halo 6 would be absent from the show, it wouldn't have been an unreasonable expectation - after all, the series has showed up at E3 in one way or another for more than 10 years straight. But development studio 343 Industries says we shouldn't get our hopes up for any sort of announcement; at least not in the near future.
"For some people ... the Xbox media briefing was bandied about as much for what it didn’t show, as what it did," 343's Jeff Easterling wrote on the Halo Waypoint blog. "Specifically, a new (or old-made-new) Halo title. For some folks, their despair stemmed from a lack of remastered fight-finishing. I know I know, we should have told you ahead of time to not expect anything like that. Others were hoping for a tease of things farther off to come. While there’s little to nothing that can be said on that front, it’s been made clear that we won’t be talking about Halo’s next major title for quite some time."
And just to really, really make sure your expectations are being set, Easterling continued: "And no, that doesn’t mean Gamescom. Or PAX. Trust us, when we’re ready to begin pulling back that proverbial curtain, you’ll know. It won’t be soon."
So that's the bad news. No Halo 6 (assuming it's called "Halo 6") for awhile. If I had to guess, probably not until E3 2018. But there is some good news for lore hounds who want a taste of what's to come. A Halo Wars 2 expansion dubbed "Awakening the Nightmare" is due for release this fall, and it's teasing a return of the franchise's most persistent foe, The Flood.
It's possible the Flood threat will be squashed by the end of Awakening the Nightmare, or they could carry over to Halo 6. Either way, if you're hungry for Halo, the only item on the menu (for now) is Halo Wars 2.
Oh well. At least Halo 6 will have splitscreen. And it sounds like 343 knows where it wants to take the series. That helps soften the blow a bit I think.
